Chapter 13

Synopsis of chapter 13

Tess settles back into village life. At first, she is an object of interest among her former school friends. She goes to church, but finds herself subject to stares and whispers, and cannot bear to go again. In fact, she becomes more and more reclusive as winter draws on. The chapter finishes with Hardy defending Tess against her feelings of guilt.

Commentary on chapter 13

Although the chapter seems straightforward enough, there are two areas of difficulty:

Culturally, we live in a very different world of sexual mores:

The rigid moral conventions of Victorian society insisted there was no sex before marriage; nor was it talked about. Pregnancy outside wedlock was the greatest shame a girl could suffer. In the country areas and among the working class, there was a more relaxed attitude, but marriage was always expected at the end of the day

Today, religious families and groups still hold to these beliefs, as active values rather than as strict social conventions, but many in society do not. You need to put yourself back in time to appreciate Tess's situation.

Hardy tries to defend Tess by distinguishing between social conventions and natural law. However, it is a dangerous argument as he excuses too much:

According to ‘natural law,' Alec could be excused as he is only doing what alpha males in nature do

Hardy has previously mocked Wordsworth for his idea of 'nature's holy plan' (Ch 3), but seems to be going some way here to endorse this notion

So there are perhaps some contradictions in Hardy's defence of Tess.

'in love with her own ruin': this is actually a quotation from a sermon rather than from a poem, one by the Puritanpreacher Robert South (1634-1716). The term 'ruin' reinforces the Victorian idea of the utter shame of having sexual encounters before marriage.

chiming: the chiming of the church bell is a steady ringing of one bell to tell people the church service is about to begin. This is not the same as ringing or pealing all the bells, which would have gone on for some time before the service and have gone through a variety of peals.

chanting: in the liturgy of Victorian churches, reading passages from the Bible, especially the Psalms, in the form of chanting was quite usual.

the Morning Hymn: a hymn beginning 'Awake my soul and with the sun', written by Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1711). He had also written an Evening Hymn, equally popular. Tess would have learnt both at school.

'Langdon': all chants and hymn tunes have names. This was a setting of Psalms 102:1-28 by Richard Langdon (1730-1803). In Hardy's Under the Greenwood Tree, he gives a very full account of just how well local church-goers knew all these tunes.

the world is only a psychological phenomenon: Psychology was in its infancy in Hardy's day. The links between psychology and philosophy were still strong, especially in theories which recognised the importance of the senses to construct the world for us. There is also a figure of speech called the pathetic fallacy which links nature to psychology.

More on pathetic fallacy: this figure of speech is where the feelings and emotions of a person are projected on to nature. For example a narrator might portray that: 'the trees sobbed in the breeze', because they themselves are sad. It has been said of Hardy that he did not know whether the pathetic fallacy was in fact a fallacy or not. This passage illustrates such ambiguity well, raising the questions: Is it just Tess or is it nature as well? How alive is nature? For a further example, see Ch 28.

this encompassment of her own characterisation..: possibly one of the most convoluted and difficult sentences in the whole novel. Hardy is getting himself into a tangle! It seems to mean that what Tess imagines about herself was wrong. She has constructed a moral world from bits and pieces of social convention which she has built up so that they seem to be rather terrifying laws.

Time

The chapter covers the rest of the autumn and moves into winter. The season is clearly symbolic of Tess's own sense of desolation and nothingness, even deadness to life outside of her.

Vocabulary

accretion: accumulation

anomaly: something out of place, not fitting

attenuated: weakened or thin and extended

lumber: at the back of the church, spare timber would have been stored for when repairs were needed. The bier, for carrying dead bodies, was also stored there.

meretricious: superficial and flashy

Investigating chapter 13

Go through the chapter and list words and phrases that show Tess's isolation.

How does Hardy show Tess is living on the margins or borders of her society?

Is this isolation self-induced or the result of society ostracising her?

What inner resources does Tess seem to have?

What hinders her from drawing upon them?

Explain the sentences beginning:

'She had no fear of the shadows...'

'A wet day was the expression....'

Do we believe Hardy when he says Tess's feelings of guilt have come from social convention?

If not, where else might they have come from?

Should a novelist just tell us about important states of mind of his main characters, or should he actually show it?

Does Hardy really show us that Tess is not a 'figure of Guilt', or just tell us?

English Standard Version

King James Version

1Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you!2Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!3For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.4My heart is struck down like grass and has withered; I forget to eat my bread.5Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh.6I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places;7I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.8All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse.9For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink,10because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down.11My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.12But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations.13You will arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her; the appointed time has come.14For your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust.15Nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory.16For the Lord builds up Zion; he appears in his glory;17he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer.18Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord:19that he looked down from his holy height; from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,20to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die,21that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord, and in Jerusalem his praise,22when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.23He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days.24O my God, I say, take me not away in the midst of my days - you whose years endure throughout all generations!25Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.26They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,27but you are the same, and your years have no end.28The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you.

1Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.2Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.3For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.4My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.5By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.6I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.7I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.8Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.9For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.10Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.11My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.12But thou, O LORD, shall endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.13Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.14For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.15So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.16When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.17He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.18This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.19For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;20To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;21To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;22When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.23He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.24I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.25Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.26They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:27But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.28The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.

1. Term for a worshipping community of Christians.
2. The building in which Christians traditionally meet for worship.
3. The worldwide community of Christian believers.

A talk which provides religious instruction and encouragement.

Originally, a sixteenth and early seventeenth century Protestant, usually a Calvinist, who wished to reform the Church of England of all its Catholic characteristics.

A person within a church appointed to give a sermon at the worship services of that church. He may be the leader of that church, or someone within that church recognised as having a special ability to preach.

1. Term for a worshipping community of Christians.
2. The building in which Christians traditionally meet for worship.
3. The worldwide community of Christian believers.

1. An act of duty and devotion.
2. By extension, a religious ceremony offering obedience and worship to God.

A set form of a worship service in church, usually written down. This includes set prayers and Bible readings for certain weeks of the year.

The Christian Bible consists of the Old Testament scriptures inherited from Judaism, together with the New Testament, drawn from writings produced from c.40-125CE, which describe the life of Jesus and the establishment of the Christian church.

A religious song written for worship.

In certain Christian denominations leader of the Christian community within a geographical area.

In literature, words are used in a non-literal sense much of the time, to make the language striking and persuasive. Sounds are also carefully arranged to have certain effects. This is all figurative language.

the treatment of inanimate objects, such as trees and houses, as if they had or understood human feelings, thought, or sensations

In literature, words are used in a non-literal sense much of the time, to make the language striking and persuasive. Sounds are also carefully arranged to have certain effects. This is all figurative language.

Essentially the hymn book of the Jerusalem temple, expressing the whole range of human emotion, from dark depression to exuberant joy; many attributed to David.